The next generation of Google’s smart home era has arrived and the Google Home Speaker has laid the foundation. With an inevitable “Google Home Display” likely in the works, what does it look like?
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While Google has released some smart home hardware in recent years, 2021 was the last time the company released any core smart home pillars. I’m talking about smart speakers and displays, which for years served as the control and functionality center for Google’s smart home efforts. 2020 saw the launch of the latest smart speaker in Nest Audio, while 2021 saw the launch of the second-generation Nest Hub smart display. Everything was quiet beyond that until the launch of the Google Home Speaker last month.
And it’s a welcome return.
Gemini, although not a perfect step forward, ultimately brought experience out of stagnation and into an era of active improvement. The Google Home Speaker is a pretty perfect physical representation of that, offering a fresh new look that builds on a familiar experience, without necessarily defining every aspect.
But what really excites me is what’s next, and that is inevitably a smart display.
A “Google Home Display” is clearly on the horizon. The head of Google Home referred to the project before the launch of the Speaker, and the name “Google Home Display” has already appeared in code. It’s happening very clearly and makes me think about both what I want from said device and what is reasonable to expect knowing what we have in the speaker.
Google’s smart display efforts have effectively taken three forms over the past decade.
- The starting center/nest center It’s a small compact display that’s really just a speaker with visual information. Simple, direct and economical. The $99 device made a lot of sense in the company’s lineup, and the added functionality in visual feedback and support for streaming made it clearly useful in different parts of the home.
- Nest Hub max. expanded on the concept, adding support for a built-in Nest Cam, better speakers, and more smart home hardware under the hood to truly live up to the “core” part of the name.
- The pixel tabletMeanwhile, it attempted to bridge the gap between a smart display and an Android tablet. A good idea that was clearly It was supposed to be a Nest product originally, but it failed in its execution by trying to go in two different directions. It’s still part of my personal desktop setup, but it’s a jack of all trades, but master of none.
Looking back, I feel that Nest Hub Max is the best model for Google to follow. The size is not so universal, but a modernized version could be a very good complement to the Google Home Speaker. It would also make more sense down the line, given that the speaker already carries the $99 price tag of the smaller Nest Hub.
A built-in Nest Cam might be at the top of my list for this new device, especially since the Hub Max left a lot of room for improvement in that concept (for example, it didn’t have night vision).
But this form factor is the one that actually makes the most sense of the three if Google has no intention of releasing more than one device, which seems likely. That was a topic of discussion in a recent episode of our podcast, pixelated, with our Abner and explains that he believes the future of Google’s smart home hardware doesn’t go much beyond the current Google Home Speaker and a “Google Home Display” for the foreseeable future. While I’d love a proper Nest Mini replacement, I tend to agree with that opinion. We already know that third-party brands are making a comebackand it makes some sense for Google to set the template with its hardware and leave the variations to other brands.
But what do you think? What would you like to get from a “Google Home Display” if it is actually launched?
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